Sophisticated astrophotographers use a combination of images taken through different filters for producing their images. These can be colour filters or line filters. Making filter changes really simple is only using a filter wheel. The rotating mechanism can put a range of different filters in front of the camera. Motorized filter wheels even allow this to be done without any manual contact and via computer control.

The use of filters is also very useful when observing purely visually. The somewhat simpler filter slide - are often used on Dobsonian telescopes - can be used for this purpose.